Pond Study: Pond Pollution {Week 2}

This post journals the second week of our one year pond study in which we focus on learning about pond pollution.  For week 1 see here.  We decided to concentrate on pond pollution with a goal to see if it changes over the year. 

This Week’s Pond

Here was the pond that greeted us last Monday:

Week two of our pond study saw daddy at home unwell, with B2 not feeling quite right.  That, and the fact it was freezing out and snowing, we made the decision to take the car.  The littles stayed in the car with Gary, whilst the older three and I investigated our pond. 

Investigating Pond Pollution

This week I wanted to concentrate on the pollution levels found in the pond.  I had done a bit of research on-line and we decided to look at the following:

1. Water clarity
2. Water pH
3. Bugs in the water
4. Insect life around the pond
5. General wildlife around the pond
6. Any outward signs of pollution/waste
7. Looking at the surrounding area. Were there any obvious things causing pollution

Water Clarity and PH

The children collected a sample of water from the deeper end and the muddy, shallow end of the pond.  We used a simple jam jar and labeled each.  The water was fairly clear in both jars:

T11 measured the pH of both water samples.  They measured a pH of 8, which means the pond is slightly alkaline but within limits and therefore healthy enough to support life:

Wildlife and Insect Life Around the Pond

There was not much evidence at all of any insect life around the pond, but it was so cold, I think I would have been surprised if we had seen any.  There was, however, much wildlife to be seen:

The children concluded that even in late winter/early spring our pond supported a great variety of wildlife.

Pollution and Visible Waste Around the Pond

I then sent the children around the perimeter of the pond to discover if they could find evidence of any kind of pollution/ waste or rubbish.  To be honest, given our village is quite a large village, there was very little:

I wonder if that will increase as the weather is warmer and more people are out and about?  The last thing I took a photo of was the water level, measured by its level against a no fishing sign.  Gary suggested this:

When we got back home we jotted down notes pertaining to the weather, observations etc ready to be stuck in our March page of our family notebooking (which I will take a photo of at the end of each month and post it)  We also began a chart of water pH which we will keep at the back of our Nature notebook: